McCain Apparently Calculates He Can Win Without Conservatives

May 11, 2008 | pinochet

[pinochet]

McCain has recently been making efforts to reach out to all sorts of people not traditionally associated with the GOP. He appeared on the View, the Daily Show, before black civil rights activists in Alabama, etc.

When is he going to make a serious effort to reach out to conservatives? How about promising to appoint strict constructionist judges? How about re-assurances on gun ownership rights? What about reducing the out-of-control spending of this administation? Does he take conservative support for granted? Does he even want them?

Maybe he sees that Obama and his kooky spiritual advisor have totally freaked most Americans. Apparently, he thinks he can build a coalition of RINOS, Independents, and Hillary Clinton Democrats. Those voters, combined with some sullen conservatives who will vote out of party loyalty and "stand by their man" like abused housewives, will be enough to assure him victory.

The media has long praised McCain for repudiating the "wingnuts", as they describe his party's base. If McCain can win without any effort to reach out to conservatives, then he will ignore them completely while in office. The conservative movement of Reagan of 1980-1988, and Gingrich of 1994-1998, is either dead or on life-support.

[calcowgirl]

I applauded President Clinton for signing the Welfare Reform Act. And I’d pick up a hammer and help build a house with that failure Jimmy Carter. For conservatives, I thought it was the results and actions that mattered, not who you worked with... Silly me!

You're comparing the wrong thing.

Would you join with Hillary in promoting Hillary-Care or with Al Gore in his fight against Global-Warming as long as you got "results"? McCain was funded by Soros to pass McCain-Feingold, in opposition to conservatives and stomping on the Constitution while he was at it.

McCain has joined with Lieberman and jumped on the Al Gore g;pbal warming bandwagon. If they are successful in passing their cap-and-trade scam (bringing on the largest wealth distribution scam in history), will you consider that "results" and think it is a good thing?

[DoughtyOne]

The People (La Raza) refers to the Hispanic people.

Most of us refere to the people as all U.S. Citizens. I guess in your eyes there's no real difference huh.

[DoughtyOne]

IMO, at least 38 Senators and 175 Congressmen oppose Obama and Clinton. Conservatism flourishes as opposition grows.

Well, Se la vi...

Thanks for your note of agreement. I appreciate it.

[Squeako]

The same America in which voters rejected anti-immigrant extremists like Tancredo and Hunter in favor of John McCain? Just because you obsess over this one issue doesn't mean that everyone else does. Try getting out more often.

Having grown up in Los Angeles, and having seen what has happened in the past couple of decades, I think I've gotten out quite enough, thank you.

But, let me ask you this: Since Los Angeles county is spending $1 Billion per year on illegal immigrants and their children, and 25% of the welfare going to illegal immigrants, does that mean anyone opposed to these unnecessary expenditures is "anti-immigrant"?

Do you recognize that "being opposed to rampant illegal immigration" is different than being "anti-immigrant", or do you simply want to use the Democrat talking points?

"The People" refers to the Hispanic people. Hispanic is not a racial term. Anyone who is of Hispanic heritage regardless of their race could be a member.

Of course it does. More importantly, I (or any other Anglo/Asian/African) cannot be represented by La Raza. So, don't pretend that "The People" is a generic, encompassing term like "We The People of These United States".

[Squeako]

I do find it ironic that you are accusing me of obsessing over "this one issue" (as though illegal immigration doesn't affect everything from emergency rooms to welfare to housing costs, taxes, infectious diseases and crime), while you are suggesting in this thread that McCain choose an Hispanic person solely to "bring home" the Hispanic vote to the GOP, as well as supporting anything GOP even if demonstrably detrimental to America.

So, you're not obsessed?

[mass55th]

No guilt trip here. I'm too old for that stuff.

"Now I know why Mass is so screwed up."

Mass is screwed up, but I don't, and have never lived there. The 55th Mass. was a black regiment during the Civil War.

[yankeedame]

You bring up some very interesting points. A tip o' my hat to you. But if I may venture an opinion on your post that read:

"...Number two, what body of Congressmen would he be able to persuaded to vote against McCain, since McCain will be seated in the White House, and he will be the one Republican Congresscritters will want access to and quid pro quo from?"

IMHO in the above case he would, in the words of Renaldius Magnus, "go over the head of the congress (and the presidency in this case) and straight to the American people". Now in the bygone days, when the MSM had a monopoly, this would have been impossible. But with today's new media it is entirely possible...but, alas, it would take the patience of Job, the far sight resolution of George Washington, and the grit of Harry Truman. A tall order, indeed.

No, I believe that the Republican party, that that of the Democrat party, is sailing into the starless night of political Darwinism. When all the dust settles, political America will remain an essentially two-party system, but with very different names and very different political philosophies...to a degree,I mean.

And the beat goes on...

[calcowgirl]

I just looked at your links to the 2007 ACU ratings.

McCain failed to vote on 60% of the legislation that the ACU found important, in at least one case laws that lost by only one vote. Had he actually voted on all this legislation, it’s pretty obvious that he wouldn’t have been able to sustain an 80% rating.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Basically Mccain knows that he conservatives don't have anywhere else to go.

Then McCain is an even bigger simpleton than I originally took him to be.

Conservatives certainly do "have other places to go." Some (like myself) will either vote for conservative candidates down ticket while leaving the top space blank, or else vote third party. A great many others can, and doubtless will, opt to stay home altogether.

No genuinely principled conservative, anywhere, needs to robotically reward any given Republican candidate with their vote every four years, solely on the grounds that, well, after all, The Other Guy sucks, too. Given the jaw-droppingly pathetic level of Juan McCain's cash-donations-on-hand, to date: it's a safe bet that a significant (and growing) number of conservatives have reached precisely that same conclusion.

[calcowgirl]

Quit whining.

[D-fendr]

Not worth cutting off our nose to spite our face.

Conservatism has to be constantly rebuilt.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

You’re statement is illogical. Jim says the site is a conservative site, that doesn’t mean that people who are fans of the GOP are not welcome here nor does it say they cannot discuss anything want, even God forbid, support for the party if they so choose.

"You're" (intentional?) misinterpretation of what Kris very plainly typed rockets past Absurd, and barrels straightaway towards Imbecilic. Kindly point out, please, specifically where he made either or both of said statements in #94.

[KentTrappedInLiberalSeattle]

Heh. ;)

[calcowgirl]

That’s what I’m thinking. Perhaps Mel Martinez? The only thing better would be a high profile Hispanic Republican from Ohio, but I can’t think of any.

I was told by someone on FR (but didn't verify it) that Martinez is foreign born making him ineligible.

[KrisKrinkle]

'It is for this reason, that the sitting President that is a Republican,is the acting voice of Conservatism.' 

Unions and Unionists have supported the Democratic Party for years as have American Jews.  Is a sitting Democratic President the acting voice of Unionism or the acting voice of American Judaisim?  The answer is "no".

"...explain what other viable alternative we have that can promote Conservatism outside the party." 

That is a significant problem.

"Is there a national figure that you think picks up the slack when the Republican President refuses to push Conservative policy?  I don't know of a viable one." 

Neither do I which is discouraging.  On the other hand, if Obama wins the presidency he will be the head of the Democratic Party.  Where was he two years ago?  Who'da thunk it then?  What about Bush two years before he won the Presidency? 

"I recognize that he will not be a true Conservative, or anything even remotely close to it.  That doesn't mitigate the reality that John will hold the seat that sets policy, for the party that Conservatives have called home." 

Which doesn't make him the head of the Conservative movement.

"Therefore, there will be no nationwide Conservative leadership under a John McCain Presidency."

Stipulating that for the sake of argument, that means John McCain won't be the head of the Conservative movement by virtue of election to the Presidency or anything else. 

"For all intents and purposes, John McCain will be the figurehead of Conservatism,..."

There's a difference between being the head of the Conservative movement and the figurehead of Conservatism.

"and unwilling to lead out for that cause.  Instead he will lead out for leftist causes. "

Which is in contradiction to being the head of the Conservative movement.

And to repeat:  "Therefore, there will be no nationwide Conservative leadership under a John McCain Presidency."

Correct in that John McCain will not be the head of the Conservative movement.  (If there is a Conservative movement that is.) Conservatives will have to do something different.  They will have to learn to stand on their own.  The problem is that, in addition to not having sufficient leadership of their own, Conservatives don't have sufficient cohesion.  Trying to get them in line is like trying to get cats to patiently line up for supper. 

 

[calcowgirl]

At a retirement dinner in 2000, I spoke with a Republican Congressman and asked him why McCain didn't get the support of the RNC over George W. He said, "McCain would treat the Presidency as a dictatorship. He wouldn't work with Congress." Now, eight years later, I heard an interview of this same Congressman, and he has changed 180 degrees and now "looks forward to working with John McCain as President". This is the stuff of nightmares.

The conversion reminds me of a lot of freepers.

[Digger]

“The Global Poverty Act,” has just been rushed through the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, with the assistance of Democratic Senator Joe Biden, the chairman, and Republican Senator Richard Lugar. The legislation (S.2433) commits the U.S. to spending hundreds of billions of dollars more in foreign aid on the rest of the world, in order to comply with the “Millennium Goals” established by the United Nations. Conservative members of the committee were largely caught off-guard by the move to pass the Obama bill but are putting a “hold” on it, in order to try to prevent the legislation, which also quickly passed the House, from being quickly brought up for a full Senate vote.” The European socialists are also running Obama.

So at what point is there an active revolution? I guess never from whitie. He'll just let every group roll him until he is extinct.

[Paladin2]

Choosing the Huckster would be perfectly in keeping with the McCain “legacy”.

[calcowgirl]

I say there aren't more than three true Conservatives in the Senate. I say there aren't more than twenty true Conservatives in Congress. If McCain wins, he will have 97 Senators behind any liberal legislation he proposes. He will also have over 400 Congressional votes behind anything he proposes.

I'm not sure which you are labeling as conservatives, but I bet money that, if McCain wins, those conservatives will be targeted for defeat and told "not to darken the doorstep" of the White House.

[norton]

Apples / oranges.

Of course the RNC will back McCain, they've been backing him from day one.

But he will not claim leadership of any conservative movement, he will nod to conservatism so long as he needs to sway some voters.

Once in office, once he is 'the leading Republican office holder' - he will revert to form and, yes, the party at large will revert with him.